Danville Express

Danville launches this year's parking survey

Poll now on town's Web site; patrons asked for input on downtown parking

by Geoff Gillette

Danville's annual parking survey is ready to start, and those who park downtown are being asked to go online to give their opinions on how well it's all working.

Town officials are hoping to get some solid baseline information on parking preferences and problems in the downtown, said Assistant Traffic Engineer Andy Dillard.

"Basically, we're asking for feedback from patrons and merchants and employees in the downtown," he said. "There are two separate surveys, one for the merchants and one for the patrons."

Dillard said the purpose of the survey is to determine how the existing parking is being utilized.

"We're looking for information on people's trip patterns into the downtown. Do they come in the morning? Do they come in the afternoon?" he said. "Just the basics of who uses the parking facilities in town, when and where."

The online survey is part of a larger ongoing parking study. Dillard said the data from the survey will be used to bolster additional information collected by town consultants.

"Our consultants will go out for a couple of weekdays and observe the on-street and public parking lots on an hourly and two-hour basis," he said. "They'll be looking at turnover. Based on their findings, they'll make suggestions on ways we can improve parking."

Dillard was quick to point out that the study is not intended to create any new large-scale parking developments.